What has nature ever done for us? is the title of a well-received book by Tony Juniper which was published in 2013 by Profile Books? As the blurb says:
“… nature provides the ‘natural services’ that keep the economy going. From the recycling miracles in the soil; an army of predators ridding us of unwanted pests; an abundance of life creating a genetic codebook that underpins our food, pharmaceutical industries and much more.It has been estimated that these and other services are each year worth about double global GDP. Yet we take most of Nature’s services for granted, imagining them free and limitless ...”
Indeed we do, and seem no nearer learning the truth of this existential message. If we all learned more about ecology, and about economics, things might be better, and if all economics students in universities learned about environmental economics, that might help. But they don’t, and show no signs of ever doing so.